The power to commit violence, perpetrate injustice, take private property by force without compensation to the owner, and compel the receipt of promises to pay in place of money, may be exercised, as it often has been, by irresponsible authority, but it cannot be considered as belonging to a government founded upon law…. From the decision of the Court I see only evil likely to follow.
— Stephen J. Field, Hepburn v. Griswold [1870]
- Stephen J. Field Short Biography
CourtHistory.org - Stephen J. Field Biography
Supreme Court Historical Society - Stephen Field (1816-1899)
MichaelAriens.com - Review: Justice Stephen Field: Shaping Liberty from the Gold Rush to the Gilded Age
by Christopher Grandy
Independent Institute - Dissenting Opinion in the Slaughterhouse Cases
by Stephen J. Field
Touro Law Center